The average Green Label Warner Bros. copy we played was lackluster to say the least.
The words on some of my notes read flat, veiled, dry, dark, edgy.
[Many years later we would characterize the above shortcomings as the Warner Bros. House Sound.]
None too promising, but we persevered and found a good one.
The reissues we heard tended to be modern and thin. Definitely not our sound.
Bonnie Raitt fans take note: This album did not sell well. It appears that it never even charted, which means that original copies are hard to come by.
On top of that, clean ones tend to be expensive and prices are climbing.
With those things considered, it is unlikely we would ever do this shootout again.
Side One
A++. By track two the sound is rich and solid, yet clear. Lovely Tubey Magic and an unprocessed live quality make this one sound about as right as it’s going to get. The drums are especially real sounding, with little in the way of EQ and compression (not that those are bad things).
The rich piano and vocals on track three seal the deal — It’s Super Hot.
Note that the first track, a cover of Bluebird, was a bad idea from the start. The sour sound did it no favors either.
Side Two
A++. Yes, it’s a dead room, but on the best pressings there is still ambience and space to be heard.
The vocals, often edgy on other copies, were not edgy here. The sound is rich and clear, the ideal combination.
Based on what were the winners of this shootout, this album should sound better this way:
For those of you who might be interested in finding their own Hot Stamper pressings of other titles, we here provide more moderately helpful title specific advice.
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